By Awad Rujoub
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Israel has erected barbed wire on a fence around the Lions' Gate area adjacent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem, Palestinian authorities said Monday.
“This is a dangerous precedent that has never occurred since 1967,” the Jerusalem governor’s office said in a statement.
The Lions' Gate, also known as Bab al-Asbat, is located within Jerusalem’s Old City and is one of the main gates leading to Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Nasser Qaws, a leader of the Palestinian group Fatah, said the Israeli move “aims to prevent Palestinians from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan,” the official news agency Wafa reported.
There was no Israeli comment on the report.
On Sunday night, Israeli forces prevented hundreds of Palestinians from entering the mosque to perform the Tarawih, special night prayers during the holy month.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world's third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area the Temple Mount, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, a move never recognized by the international community.
Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank since Israel launched a deadly military offensive against the Gaza Strip after a cross-border attack by Hamas last October.
At least 420 Palestinians have since been killed and more than 4,600 others injured by Israeli fire, according to the Health Ministry.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza, where at least 30,800 people have been killed.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara